Bacteria and their Mechanical World: Surface Sensing and Colonization
Event details
| Date | 23.04.2015 |
| Hour | 14:00 |
| Speaker | Alexandre Persat, Ph.D., Gitai Lab, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (USA) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
BIOENGINEERING SEMINAR
Abstract:
Bacteria have colonized every environment on Earth: oceans, hot springs, soil, and even our own bodies. Some species are notorious for their ability to infect; others perform beneficial tasks, for example as they help develop our immune system or ferment foods. In the wild, bacteria are nearly universally associated with surfaces as opposed to existing as free-swimming, isolated organisms. Thus, fluid flow and contact between cells and surfaces are two ubiquitous and influential mechanical features of bacterial existence in natural environments. The goal of my research is to characterize how mechanics at surfaces modulate bacterial behaviors. In this talk, I will portray two strategies illustrating how bacteria leverage mechanics at the surface.
First, I will describe how the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa initiates infection upon contact with a surface. These cells develop adhesive pili, long and thin motorized fibers that extend and retract from their body, to simultaneously attach onto and sense surfaces. Tension in these pili helps them detect encounter with the substrate. In second example of adaptation to mechanics, I will describe how bacteria have evolved their morphology to optimize the colonization of surfaces in flow environments. In particular, I will describe how Caulobacter crescentus uses its curved shape to align with flow, thus optimally orienting its body to enhance the colonization of surfaces. Altogether, this work highlights the importance of engineering more realistic growth environments, such as those with fluid flow and surfaces, to study bacterial development.
Bio:
Alexandre Persat received a B.S. in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique, France, in 2005. He received an M.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2007 and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2011 from Stanford University. He is currently working in the department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University as a postdoctoral fellow in Zemer Gitai’s laboratory. He is a current fellow of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through the Life Science Research Foundation. His research lies at the intersection of engineering, biology and physics. In particular, it focuses on characterizing how bacteria develop in response to various mechanical environments, thereby bridging mechanics and microbiology.
Abstract:
Bacteria have colonized every environment on Earth: oceans, hot springs, soil, and even our own bodies. Some species are notorious for their ability to infect; others perform beneficial tasks, for example as they help develop our immune system or ferment foods. In the wild, bacteria are nearly universally associated with surfaces as opposed to existing as free-swimming, isolated organisms. Thus, fluid flow and contact between cells and surfaces are two ubiquitous and influential mechanical features of bacterial existence in natural environments. The goal of my research is to characterize how mechanics at surfaces modulate bacterial behaviors. In this talk, I will portray two strategies illustrating how bacteria leverage mechanics at the surface.
First, I will describe how the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa initiates infection upon contact with a surface. These cells develop adhesive pili, long and thin motorized fibers that extend and retract from their body, to simultaneously attach onto and sense surfaces. Tension in these pili helps them detect encounter with the substrate. In second example of adaptation to mechanics, I will describe how bacteria have evolved their morphology to optimize the colonization of surfaces in flow environments. In particular, I will describe how Caulobacter crescentus uses its curved shape to align with flow, thus optimally orienting its body to enhance the colonization of surfaces. Altogether, this work highlights the importance of engineering more realistic growth environments, such as those with fluid flow and surfaces, to study bacterial development.
Bio:
Alexandre Persat received a B.S. in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique, France, in 2005. He received an M.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2007 and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2011 from Stanford University. He is currently working in the department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University as a postdoctoral fellow in Zemer Gitai’s laboratory. He is a current fellow of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through the Life Science Research Foundation. His research lies at the intersection of engineering, biology and physics. In particular, it focuses on characterizing how bacteria develop in response to various mechanical environments, thereby bridging mechanics and microbiology.
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